masque
by gryffindormischief
Summary: At this stage, Lily would rather Prince Charming have light refreshments and something to prevent third degree burns on her shoulders than a noble steed.


A/N: Little one shot for jilyfest summer event! I hope you like, and let me know if maybe you'd want more in this universe...?

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It surprisingly hard to find part time summer work for the few months between when classes end in the spring and resume in the fall. Partially because of the specific time frame, but mainly because Lily's apparently not cut out to be a 'beverage artist' or a 'sandwich master.'

Eventually, she does find an odd bit of success with an organization that connects 'actors' with families and event planners looking to hire characters to mingle at their parties. Which, at first, she thought sounded like a euphemism for some sort of sketchy prostitution ring, but a few quick Google searches and a check in with some corporation review websites have her fairly certain it's on the up and up.

And it is, they're pretty nice and it's a flexible enough schedule that she's thinking this will be a great semi-permanent gig to make a few hundred whenever she's home for breaks.

Plus, she's got almost full-time access to a car, which means she can take a lot of jobs in the wealthier neighborhoods that are more out of bounds for other employees. So she gets tipped pretty well on top of whatever she gets paid as a flat rate.

At first, she books a bunch of princess parties where she has to tunnel back into her memory for summers spent at her great grandmother's cottage in Scotland for an accent reference. But people get more creative as time goes and she has to cobble together a costume that resembles the Red Queen, or Sansa Stark.

The only one she turns down is a bunch of sketchy twenty something blokes who swear they have only the most chaste reasons to hire a woman to dress as Jessica Rabbit. And given that she doesn't make _that_ much for an afternoon of mingling and posing and they most definitely will not have the funds to give her a tip that will make the ogling – and likely worse – worth it, it's an easy no.

She's just climbing out of the Mystery Machine, sweat dripping down her spine beneath her polyester purple mini dress she picked up at a thrift shop, when her mobile buzzes in her pocket.

Technically, the job is over, but she's still not supposed to break character when she's still at the party, so Lily darts her eyes around and slips away while the kids are all high on cake, candies, and pop.

It's got to be nearing the last ring when she finally swipes her finger and clears her throat, "Hey Marlene."

"I know you're just coming off a hellish morning."

Lily snorts, " _Hi Lily, how are you? Sweaty and ready to rinse the mothballs and preteen angst off your poor sad body?"_

Marlene does laugh at that, while shuffling papers around on her perpetually cluttered desk if Lily's ears are correct, before she sighs, "I wouldn't bother you if it wasn't important."

Swiping at her damp fringe, Lily pulls the pinching green headband from her hair and lets out a breath. "Do you have whatever costume I'll need?"

Which is how Lily ends up perched on a papier-mâché rock next to an utterly tempting pool wearing mermaid fins and a scratchy seashell bra. It's not too bad, as far as her experience with this job goes. The sun's not at full force, clouds skating across the blue sky while her 'fins' make ripples in the chlorine rich water below.

She's really not mercenary enough to just do it for the money after she's been fairly solidly booked for the last week or so. If it was just about padding her bank account, Lily would be at home, soaking in her tub and cracking open her latest acquisition from the teen-fiction section at her local bookshop.

But Marlene knows exactly how to push Lily's buttons, and 'special event for children's hospital' was most definitely the way to go.

She's made it through the meet and greet and about five billion photo-ops without breaking character and/or crying, so it's going fairly well so far. And will continue to do so if she can find an adult to rustle up some sunblock before she looks more like a certain crustacean sidekick than a singing mermaid.

When she's nearly given up hope, a lanky man with wild hair and what she'll admit are adorably crooked glasses wanders by with a glass of lemonade in hand. Quickly, before he can escape, she grabs at his trouser leg and tugs meaningfully, whisper yelling so hopefully no one under the age of fifteen hears. "Oi! Specs."

He grins, stupidly handsome, and squats just at her shoulder. "Yes, Ariel?"

Lily quirks a brow and he leans closer, "If I don't get some lemonade and sunblock soon, you're going to have dried out baked salmon on your hands."

Burying his answering laugh in the wrinkled shoulder of his button up, Specs nods and pushes his glasses back up his nose, giving her a beautiful view of the utterly tempting sinews of his freckled forearms before he disappears into the crowd, all long legs and cheeky smiles.

By the time he returns, she's taken a few more photos and managed to crank out a bunch of light and fairly canon-compliant conversations – three of which are with endearingly tipsy adults who've finally mustered up enough courage to come say hello. He kneels by her side and hands over the sunblock. "I'm James, by the way. I'm sorry I didn't get over here sooner, Mum's going to kill me."

"Mum?"

He flushes a little, "Euphemia Potter, she's the er- benefactress I guess you'd say."

Lily nods, but doesn't get her response out before a little girl with pigtails and more cupcake on her face than in her mouth shouts from across the pool, "Eric's here! Prince Eric _came_."

Swallowing down the last of her tangy drink, Lily grins and grabs James' hand, fingers interlocking with his so he can't escape. "Looks like you've been recruited, James Potter."


End file.
